Despite the fact that it is widely accepted that behavior is to a significant degree a product of social or societal influences, research in the area of alcoholism, until recently, has been dominated by the individualistic approach. The few studies which have attempted to relate the alcoholic to a spouse, nuclear family or larger system have lacked rigorous controls, quantitative and objectifiable data. The present proposal, an outgrowth of earlier pilot studies, utilizes an experimental drinking paradigm to define some major interactional behaviors among alcoholic dyads and to contrast these behaviors with couples who are social drinkers. In addition to various demographic and personality assessments, non-content, behavioral and multivariate information analyses will be obtained. It is anticipated that studies such as this will enrich our basic understanding of factors which seriously impact upon problem drinking and thereby facilitate the development of more effective intervention techniques.